Zoo Adventure

Today Claire and I went to the Columbus Zoo with my friends Deanna and Cynetta and their boys Landon & Noah! We had a great time looking at all the animals and hanging out with our friends! The kids were so good despite the warm weather! Claire really enjoyed looking at all the different animals. She kept pointing at them and making her high pitched little noise that goes along with that! It was pretty cute to watch her expressions! She loved the aquarium and the tiger (he was RIGHT next to the window so she got a great view of him!!). Thanks Cynetta for inviting us and thanks Deanna for riding with us... it made the trip so much quicker having company!!

Claire was very interested in the Orangutan!

Landon, Claire & Noah playing on the Orangutan sculpture!

The King of the Jungle! Wow... was he ever impressive. If you look closely you can see he is yawning. That is one BIG mouth, full of BIG teeth!

My favorite... the Elephants! What is it about these amazing creatures? I just love them!

Gotta love the Penguins, too! How cute!!!

Claire, Noah and Landon hanging out in their strollers! What a bunch of cuties!

Claire looking so happy on the Carousel! She took a little fall right before we got on so she was not the happiest. She definitely perked up when the ride started and enjoyed the horsey going up and down! She kept petting the horse she was on!

Love this shot of Claire from behind looking at the monkeys!

Landon and Claire posing in the flower!

~My sweet, little flower~

Grandma is EIGHTY!!

On Saturday my Grandma McDowell turned EIGHTY years old! We celebrated that day by going out to eat to Anticoli's (an Italian restaurant) and then back to my parents house to open gifts and eat cake. My dad called all my grandma's friends and our extended family to tell them to send cards and we received probably 30-40 cards for my grandma and presented her with a basket full of birthday wishes! We also made her a scrapbook with pictures of our family (mostly of the great-grandkids!!). Shawn, Kristen and the kids came in from Illinois for the party and we also celebrated Shawn's 35th birthday. Happy 35th Shawn! It was a nice time to celebrate my grandma and let her know how much we love and appreciate her! She has been such a wonderful grandmother and a great example to all of us of a Godly women! I was fortunate enough to grow up down the street from my Grandma & Grandpa McDowell and they were very involved in our lives. They never missed a school/sporting event and gave me and my brothers unconditional love & support! They were definitely some of our greatest fans! We love you Grandma, Happy 80th Birthday!

Double Trouble

Today I babysat with Caroline for a couple hours. It was so fun to watch the girls play. They are SO cute together... out of nowhere they would hug and kiss each other. They play very well and are learning how to share their toys! I love watching this relationship bloom. They are going to be great, lifelong friends!

The girls playing at Claire's Ohio State table. My mom got both the girls these tables for Christmas! As you can tell... they enjoy sitting at the table and playing. Claire has recently learned to STAND on her chairs and it has definitely become a battle of wills when it comes to this dangerous activity. I pray for patience for me and safety for her!

Claire kept saying "hi" in a high pitched tone to Caroline. She must've told her "hi" a hundred times and she would always bend down or lower her head like in this picture when she said it. It was so silly!

Look how good they are playing! What sweet little girls!

Claire giving Caroline a hug. Caroline is looking at me like "Can you HELP me???".

Caroline sharing with Claire!

1st Pig Tail

I have been thinking for a while now that I could get Claire's hair up into a little pig tail (really more like a whale spout), but I didn't have any small rubberbands. Yesterday I picked up some cute little hair accessories and today after her bath I put her hair up (as best I could with a moving target). I thought it looked so cute! Claire has a head full of thick hair. It's not super long, but she sure does have a bunch!! I can't wait to do all sorts of cute things with her hair as she gets older!

A view of Claire's whale spout from the back. She loves to look out our back door!

Who's the DOGGIE Anyway????

When Sophie is inside we take her collar off a lot of times (she is microchiped, too!), because the tags on the collar are noisy. Well, recently Claire has shown a GREAT interest in Sophie's collar. So much so she wants the collar clipped on her. She is able to get it around her neck and she literally whines until I clip it together. Once it is on she smiles and goes about her business of playing. When I try to take it off she begins to whine or even cry. The only way she is okay with me taking it off is if we put it on Sophie immediately. Sometimes I really think Claire believes she is canine. We are always taking dog kibble out of her mouth and she thinks it is so much fun to play in Sophie's water bowl. She adores Sophie and hugs her and "talks" sweet to her constantly. She is always saying "hi" to Sophie in a very high pitched baby talk. It is pretty cute to watch the two of them interact! When Maddie died I prayed God would lead us to just the right dog for our family. I was pregnant with Claire and knew we needed a very sweet and gentle dog. We had a lot of people praying for a wonderful family pet and the Lord definitely answered our prayers when He gave us Sophie! She is the quintessential gentle dog and Claire wants to be JUST LIKE HER!!!

DISCLAIMER: Claire is supervised by an adult at all times when the collar is on!

You can really tell in this picture that Claire had a little bug on Wednesday. Her eyes are still so puffy & she looks puny . Thankfully she was much better in a day, although she is sleeping a ton now as she is recouping!

My girls!!!

Family Time at the Pool

Saturday afternoon Ben & I took Claire to the pool! It was such a pretty day to be outside and we knew it would be the last opportunity to go swimming before the pools close for the year. Claire absolutely loves the water and she had a blast wading in it. We even took her down the baby slide! It was just so nice to all be together for some family time. You could tell Claire loved Mommy & Daddy both being in the water with her. She really does great and doesn't seem fearful even when her head is submerged! I am so grateful she isn't afraid of water. We tried to introduce her at a young age and I took her to swimming classes at the Rec. I think it paid off!

Find Your Wings

My cousin Tami just recently added music to her blog... LOVE it, and one of the songs on her list is Find Your Wings by Mark Harris from 4Him (one of my favorite old Christian groups). I just love this song and it really summarizes my prayer for Claire. I don't think I could put in words my thoughts & dreams for her better than this song. You may have heard it a lot on the radio around graduation time. I just bawl every time I hear it... no matter how many times I hear it. I think I am just realizing how quickly these little babies grow up and before I know it she is going to be flying on her own. As Daddy always says... "Parenting is one hand pulling in and the other hand pushing out". So true.

To watch the video for this song click on this link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knm492yxMfo

Find Your Wings

It's only for a moment you are mine to hold

The plans that heaven has for you

Will all too soon unfold

So many different prayers I'll pray

For all that you might do

But most of all I'll want to know

You're walking in the truth

And If I never told you

I want you to know

As I watch you grow

Chorus:

I pray that God would fill your heart with dreams

And that faith gives you the courage

To dare to do great things

I'm here for you whatever this life brings

So let my love give you roots

And help you find your wings

May passion be the wind

That leads you through your days

And may conviction keep you strong

Guide you on your way

May there be many moments

That make your life so sweet

Oh, but more than memories

Bridge:

It's not living if you don't reach for the sky

I'll have tears as you take off

But I'll cheer as you fly

28 weeks pregnant in Barbados! Our last vacation before our new arrival!
4D Ultrasound- Claire was at 30 weeks gestation
I love how she was hugging herself in these pictures! She is still a hugger... very affectionate!

Claire's birth pictures 7-16-06

Before we know it Claire is going to be getting on a school bus for her first day of school :-(

And even scarier... Claire driving!! We really do have so much to look forward to with our sweet girl!

Go DRAGONS!

What a beautiful night to go to the ballpark! It was SO pretty out and we had SO much fun watching the Dragon's play baseball. Actually we had more fun watching Claire stuff popcorn in her mouth. We went to the game with Nuna & Grandpa and Claire discovered popcorn for the very first time. A little girl about her age that sat in front of us was kind enough to share her popcorn with Claire. It was hilarious to see her expression when she got her first taste! Thankfully Grandpa came with a huge bag of popcorn and Claire sat on his lap for the longest time eating it by the hand full... she literally had two handfuls of popcorn at all times! I wish I had taken a picture of that. It was too cute! Grandpa also shared his Coke and Nuna shared her Dippin' Dots and I shared my funnel cake! It was just a health fest at the ballpark! Anyway, we had a great time, great weather, and what's better than stadium food???

Birthday Surprise!!

I had a very nice surprise for my 30th birthday. Sue, my mother-in-law, had Claire's 1 year pictures taken when she was babysitting. I was working that day and she arranged for somebody to come to her house for the photo shoot! I was VERY surprised when I opened up my gift and saw all these adorable pictures of Claire. They were taken about a week after her first birthday! The photographer is Sarah Cafaro (http://www.hisfingerprintsphotography.com). Sarah is a graduate of Dayton Christian and Ben and I both had her dad, Paul Pyle, as a teacher in high school (one of our favorites by the way!!). Sarah is just starting out in the photography business and I definitely want to give her some good advertisement! I think she did a great job with Claire and I'm very happy with the pictures!

Thanks so much Sue, for a wonderful birthday surprise! There is nothing I can think of that I would want more than pictures of my girl!!

The chair Claire is sitting in belonged to, and I think made by, her Great-Great-Great Grandfather on Sue's side. Yes... that is 3 "Greats"!! How neat is that!!